Building a voice-over career is extremely time-consuming. You have to be very dedicated and willing to go the extra mile. You’re in charge of every aspect of your business, especially in the beginning. Auditions, marketing, invoicing, follow-up calls, buying/troubleshooting equipment, taxes (April isn’t too far away), silently fuming over the neighbor’s dog, etc. It’s great when all of your work pays off! It feels like your sacrifice was worth it.

But how much is too much? As voice-over artists, sometimes our studio becomes the room we are in most of our waking hours (and sometimes sleeping hours, depending on where you are). Have you ever worked so long that you didn’t leave the house for a day? Or two days? You’d like to take a break, but you feel guilty and stressed out if you do. Or you simply can’t because of a deadline.

Give yourself a break!! Stop! It isn’t healthy! It is OK and necessary to rest.

Nothing is more frustrating than working at something you love, but being too tired to give it your best. There have been times when I have taken on more than I should, and deeply regretted it later.

There are some things you can do to stop the madness:

Literally Schedule a Time to Relax…and Then Actually Relax. If you are working on your “break” then it isn’t really a break. Go watch TV, laugh with a friend over something stupid, take a walk, go to the gym. Do something totally unrelated to work. Put this break time in your schedule and attend to it as you would with anything else in your schedule.

Don’t Demand Perfection from Yourself. No one is perfect. Don’t beat yourself up over mistakes. Did you mess up on something? Let it go. Life is too short. No one can book every job, make everyone happy or work flawlessly (especially when you aren’t resting like you should).

Get Exercise. Even if this means you get up from your desk and do 50 jumping jacks out in the living room, do something to stay active. Not moving around enough is not only very bad for your health, but it can make you pretty depressed. This can turn into a vicious cycle because when you are depressed, you don’t feel like doing anything. You become more isolated and that, in turn, leads to becoming even more depressed.

It’s Ok to Say No. You certainly don’t want to miss out on great opportunities, but if you have too many things going at once, you will be too drained to focus your energy on any one of them. Everyone has a limit. If you have too much going at one time, you will burn out. You have to allow time to recharge and refresh.

When you take the time to relax, you can actually accomplish more and work less.

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4 Comments

This is such great advice. It’s not just about auditioning and booking gigs. There’s bookkeeping, invoicing, social networking, marketing, blogging, promotions, and the list goes on and on as a solopreneur.

It’s essential to give yourself downtime to reset and recharge. It’s also important to set boundaries for yourself and enforce them for the sake of your business and sanity!